“I’m gonna make my Instagram private if you guys don’t stop the hate this is getting out of hand. If you guys are really fans you wouldn’t be so mean to people that I like,” he captioned an Instagram pic of himself and Richie, 17. Gomez reacted to the post in his comments section, which was screenshot by fans.

“If you can’t handle the hate then stop posting pictures of your girlfriend lol -it should be special between you two only. Don’t be mad at your fans. They love you. They were there for you before anyone,” she wrote.

As previously reported, Bieber thinks that Gomez’s comments were all for publicity. “Justin thinks Selena is all about attention so that’s why he said that,” a source told Us Weekly on Monday. “He remembers she always brought him out to be seen with him in the beginning, especially that Vanity Fair Oscars party. She was the one who made him go out with her to that. She was always about making their relationship public and getting publicity, and he thinks that’s what she is doing now.”